Regulated wagering games are common throughout the world. Typical examples are games offered by state lotteries. These games, which are offered on a large scale, are operated using centralized transaction processing systems to collect and/or redeem wagers, execute software programming to randomly generate play indicia, and manage player and game information. Most state lotteries and similar entities operate their own central host system, or have it operated by a contractor such as IGT Global Solutions Corporation. The host systems are typically located within the jurisdiction of the lottery provider. The state lotteries also deploy their own client equipment to operate various channels for delivering games to player customers, such as agent-operated lottery game sales terminals, unattended lottery game sales terminals, vending machines, kiosks, electronic access via the Internet from personal computers, mobile phone access, and interactive TV terminal access, for example. They also operate, or have operated on their behalf by a contractor, their own customized administration systems, such as accounting, reporting, fraud control, loyalty programs and prize redemption systems, for example.
In various embodiments, these systems can include multiple servers providing interactive interfaces for receiving wager requests online, receiving loyalty program sign-up requests, processing and storing such requests, issuing wagering receipts, assigning player accounts, processing funds for player accounts, tracking player interaction with the system and performing other administrative functions. Various types of networks can be employed, including the Internet, in order to ensure proper system availability and minimized downtime for operation.
Lottery games of both the “instant win” and “future draw” type games are popular. They are found in state run and privately run lottery systems worldwide, and provide a significant source of income for government operators to generate revenues for public purposes such as education. Future draw lotteries, like Lotto™ or Powerball™ often have large prizes and appeal to players who purchase tickets on a regular schedule or with a group. Instant win tickets are most commonly sold as “scratch-off” tickets, where the game result is indicated by game play information concealed by a removable scratch-off layer. This layer can be removed by the player after the ticket is purchased to reveal the game outcome. Instant win tickets are popular in part because they allow a player to determine the prize value of their ticket immediately after purchase. Instant win tickets generally also have bright, attractive graphic schemes and are sold as eye-catching consumer items. Instant win tickets can also be generated by a terminal.
With respect to game themes and operative play mechanics, marking off letters in order to match words is a well-known theme in various gaming categories (e.g., Crossword, Word-Search, Wheel of Fortune™ style games, etc.). Despite the demonstrated and known appeal, however, game operators have not implemented a robust set of draw-based word games where, for example, a player's wager is a set of words, the game operator draws a series of letters, and prizes are awarded based upon which and how many words the player matches.
Part of the reason for the lack of game implementations of this fashion involve the inherent bias in words chosen at random that is not present in combinations of numbers chosen at random. Words chosen at random in word based games from the same “word group’” (e.g., three-letter words) do not always provide mathematically equivalent odds of winning given the award criteria (e.g., match the word provided against some letters drawn by the game operator). For example, if a drawing-based game involves six randomly selected numbers out of forty-nine, then a large amount of wagers generated in this fashion will have little statistical correlation with each other, and in the long run, each number will have approximately equal representation in the cumulative sample.
Words generated at random, however, will not provide approximately equal letter counts in the long run. For example, if the words generated at random are in English, there would be an expectation that many more E's and T's would appear in the words than, for example, U's and Z's. This presents a volatility issue for a game operator, in that prize awards would likely be clumped together much more heavily when based on word matches than they would be on random number matches. This payout volatility is often not logistically feasible for lotteries and other gaming operators whose draw liabilities could be very large.
Another reason for the lack of game implementations of this fashion is the lack of appealing packaging and/or hybrid games, such as tickets that have both an instant and a draw-based game component.